PE Summit 24/7 burn - Is so much coal normal?

[Mike.O]

My PE Summit frestander coals up like crazy. Every day 2 days I'm shoveling out 3" of coals (A full bucket) It's not exactly ashy. It has lots of coal, more like chunks.

Burning 24/7. Possibly I'm not letting it burn down enough? Or is this pretty standard. This is my first month of 24/7 burning with this stove.

I dont let it burn down too much. It goes 9 hours at night and 12 hours during the day, which burn down pretty good. But otherwise, if we're home, we try to keep it going pretty warm (Coals not fully burning down).

 

[Dataman]

Give it some more air when it burns down and time. My BK did the same thing. You don't have to clean it out completely. Only when you need the room for Wood.

 

[Jan Pijpelink]

Your wood might not be dry enough. Even in my 1.8 cubic feet stove I remove ash not more than once every 2 weeks. Leave 1-2 inch ash in the stove for better performance.

 

[Mike.O]

Your wood might not be dry enough. Even in my 1.8 cubic feet stove I remove ash not more than once every 2 weeks. Leave 1-2 inch ash in the stove for better performance.

Maples reading 17-19 on a fresh split face. Oak reading 18-19. Cut/split February 2017. 1 yr 9 months split and under cover.

 

[Rickb]

I have yet to clean the ash out of my stove yet this year. Been burning on and off for a month. At least 15 fires. I think its closer to 20. Will probably clean it out end of next week after another 4 -5 fires. Most my fires are a cold start then a hot reload.

 

[Sodbuster]

1. Wood not seasoned as well as you think.
2. Leaving it a little starved for air. Let it breath a bit more when you go to bed.

 

[Mike.O]

1. Wood not seasoned as well as you think.
2. Leaving it a little starved for air. Let it breath a bit more when you go to bed.

I'm confident in my wood. Burns great and the moisture meter reads good numbers.

I would agree I choke it down to almost fully closed at night and do wake up to a glowing monster bed of coals.

I see you have the same stove. What is your ash clean out schedule?

 

[Sodbuster]

I'm confident in my wood. Burns great and the moisture meter reads good numbers.

I would agree I choke it down to almost fully closed at night and do wake up to a glowing monster bed of coals.

I see you have the same stove. What is your ash clean out schedule?

First of all, I open my air from fully choked, to just a crack at bedtime, maybe 1/4". I have a campfire popcorn popper that I have converted to an ash remover. I remove one popper full of ash every other day. This keeps me from ever having to do a complete clean out, without throwing out BTU's.

 

[Hogwildz]

Load it and let it goi for 10-12 hrs. Stop adding never ending splits, that there is your coaling problem. Pull the coals to front and give it some more air. Put a couple pcs of pine or poplar on top of the coals if you want some heat while burning the coals down.

 

[Sodbuster]

Load it and let it goi for 10-12 hrs. Stop adding never ending splits, that there is your coaling problem. Pull the colas to front and give it some more air. Put a couple pcs of pine or poplar on top of the coals if you want some heat while burning the coals down.

100% agree, continually adding splits will give short term heat but leave you with a butt ton of coals.

 

[Jan Pijpelink]

Maples reading 17-19 on a fresh split face. Oak reading 18-19. Cut/split February 2017. 1 yr 9 months split and under cover.

That's what I have on my red oak.

 

[Mike.O]

I do rake the coals forward and open it up to burn them down. I do think I add too frequently during weekend and after work hours.

I guess it's just tuning in my operation here. I don't mind taking a bucket of coals out every few days, but it looks like a few operational adjustments could minimize my clean outs. I just figured I'd see what is normal or not normal.

 

[weatherguy]

It's normal for the way your burning, I just load it up and burn it down to just enough coals for a relight, I haven't cleaned it out once yet this year.

 

[jetsam]

Get some softwood laid in for next year. Pine doesn't do that, making it ideal for short hot fires during very cold weather.

 

[begreen]

I don't mind taking a bucket of coals out every few days, but it looks like a few operational adjustments could minimize my clean outs. I

That's a waste of fuel. Charcoal still has a lot of heat.

 

[Hogwildz]

Adding more splits other than a mid load of a a couple splits of pine or softwood between full loads is going to create more coals, which will build up. Either empty some coals as you are doing, which is a waste of heat and resources, or be more patient and burn the colas down to a lower level before reloads.

 

[Highbeam]

Softwoods do it too. I’ve filled stoves with coals trying to get warm.

When you’re heat load is too high for the stove you keep filling it up with fuel and trying to burn wood for heat. You notice when the wood turns to coals because the stove cools a bit and your house gets cooler so you stuff more wood in just trying for more heat. If your stove was right sized, the coals would make plenty of heat and you could wait and reload into a mostly empty firebox.

 

[heavy hammer]

I don't have a free standing stove but I have the insert. I clean it out once a month maybe. If your wood is good try giving it more air or putting some kindling or soft wood on the coals to burn them down. The summit burns pretty clean, try these few things see if any of them work.

 

[jetsam]

Softwoods do it too. I’ve filled stoves with coals trying to get warm.

When you’re heat load is too high for the stove you keep filling it up with fuel and trying to burn wood for heat. You notice when the wood turns to coals because the stove cools a bit and your house gets cooler so you stuff more wood in just trying for more heat. If your stove was right sized, the coals would make plenty of heat and you could wait and reload into a mostly empty firebox.

My stove was the right size until that polar vortex last year, and then it was Coal City in there.

Switched from oak to pine, and all was well.

The oak might have more BTUs, but if I need maximum heat, pine goes in the stove.

I have had good luck getting rid of coal by raking it forward and laying a few teeny pine splits on the pile, then burning the stove hot.

If you are a charcoal BBQer, it may be worth your time to fish some big coals out and put them in an airtight metal bucket outside away from any combustibles. Nice clean homemade charcoal.

 

[jatoxico]

I skimmed through this thread so sorry if I'm repeating something but a couple thin sticks on a hefty coal bed with the air up will put out so nice heat while burning down the accumulated coals. Nothing too big more like kindling size and if you have anything in the softwood family even better.

Once you knock it down you can go back to a full load.

 

[Mike.O]

Yesterday I stuffed the stove around 8:00 and let it burn all day. Raked the coals to the front around 4:00 and opened the air fully. Refilled around 6:00 for the overnight burn. Stove was down to about 250-300 when I refilled.

My coaling was way less and the house stayed at 70 all day. I'd say it was a success, although it was very warm out, over 50.

I can't imagine burning like this will keep the house too warm if its 20 out, but so far so good.

Next time I want some more heat towards the end, I am going to try a small split on the raked forward coals with open air.

 

[PaulOinMA]

That's a waste of fuel. Charcoal still has a lot of heat.

I sift ash through an old colander in the garage and add the coals on top of the bed of ash left in the FP. I don't want to throw away BTUs. [/QUOTE]

 

[ratsrepus]

That's a waste of fuel. Charcoal still has a lot of heat.

Dam right it does, when I have too much coal, I open the air wide open, sometimes ILL get another 4 hrs of usable heat

 

[jetsam]

I sift ash through an old colander in the garage and add the coals on top of the bed of ash left in the FP. I don't want to throw away BTUs.

I used to do that. A deep fryer fry basket works awesome. You can get 'em off of amazon.

I tried it in my stove first, as I had sized the basket to fit in there. It was too awkward and the basket was getting red hot.

Then I tried it outside which was inconvenient as red hot little coals go flying in every direction.

THEN I started just straining the bucket from the previous cleanout, 5 or 10 days cold. That worked very well. You can walk around like a small portable dust storm, shaking the basket and fertilizing your garden or whatever, and then go feed the charcoal to the stove. (Stay upwind.)

When the bucket is empty, go in and clean out the stove, lid the bucket, and put it outside until next time you clean the stove.

I quit doing that because of laziness, but it did work out fine. The resulting coal wasn't good for grilling due to small size, but the stove liked it fine.

 

[wood2heat]

Going on my fourth winter with a PE Summit. During the first cold snap when sustained burns were required, I had the exact same coaling problem OP describes here. I contacted the local dealer for help, researched the internet, and read many posts on this site. I tried techniques like raking the coals forward, placing a couple small splits on the pile, and setting the air control wide open to help it burn down. I verified my chimney height met the minimum for the stove at my altitude. Nothing addressed the underlying problem, which was that charcoal was consumed too slowly to keep the firebox clear and produce good heat during the charcoal phase. At one point I joked with my friends and family that the stove apparently achieved long burn times and met EPA emissions limits by not burning all the charcoal.

IMHO, the actual underlying problem is a design flaw with the stove. The PE Summit that I purchased directed too much combustion air to the airwash and underfed the boost air inlets, causing the charcoal bed to burn too slowly. The only way the stove produced enough heat to keep my 1600 square foot house warm on cold days is if I shoveled out unburned coal to make space for more wood.

Anything the operator can do to increase temperature of and combustion air to the charcoal bed helps. A strong draft is important. Maintaining a one inch layer of ash in the bottom of the firebox to retain extra heat helps. I expect some members on this blog will disagree that this coaling problem is the fault of the stove, but that is my assessment.